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Google Offers Innovative Stock Option Scheme
PreacherTom writes "In a bid to breathe new life into scandal-tainted stock options, Google plans to give employees a novel method of cashing in their options. The search giant will let employees sell their vested stock options to selected financial institutions in an auction marketplace it's setting up with Morgan Stanley. In the last year, employees and employers have been 'punished' by the IRS with new rules requiring options to show up as an expense on the bottom line. This has caused companies to tone down the granting of options. Google's move could once more significantly change compensation for employees in many industries, including tech." The new plan is intended only for Google employees, not executives. Google's motive is not saving money but rather continuing to retain employees with stock incentives in the face of considerable price volatility.
You obviously didn't read the article. The whole point of the Google plan is that it provides employees an opportunity to cash in the value of option and opt out of the equity investment should they so desire. It also still gives them the chance to hold company stock if they want to take the investment risk which is what Google would like. As a Chartered Accountant and auditor I'm quite familiar with Enron and the impact its had on my industry. In the Enron collapse there were two main problem caused by stock options. First, at Enron, executives who had significant share holdings were motivated to increase their own personal wealth at the expense of shareholders and employees. As the article states, this is for employees and not executives, so it shouldn't interfere with management's stewardship function. Second, employees lost money because they didnt properly diversify their portfolio's and because the proper regulations weren't in place to allow and insure investment risks were mitigated. The Google plan mitigates the risk of employees holding too much of the company's stock by providing them a quick cash alternative. It looks very much like Google is sacrificing some of the benefit of traditional incentive based compensation by giving employees an escape route. Employees win.